Bob Snow, who has been Chase Bank's top El Paso executive for 14 years, is retiring, and a Fabens native is moving into the job beginning Wednesday.

Ruben Hernandez, 46, who's worked at Chase for 25 years and previously was executive director of commercial banking for Chase in El Paso, is the bank's new El Paso market executive. He grew up in Fabens and received a finance degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.

"Ruben is the first graduate of UTEP to hold this position. I am excited about that. It's a big deal," Snow said in a statement.

Snow, who grew up in El Paso, wanted someone from the area to fill his job as market executive, which oversees all Chase business banking operations in El Paso County and in New Mexico, said Greg Hassell, the national bank's Texas spokesman in Houston.

Snow has been grooming Hernandez for the job and will continue to assist Hernandez until his retirement March 15, Hassell said.

Snow, 64, who's worked for Chase for 32 years, was the bank's El Paso president from 1994 until he became El Paso market executive in 2002.

Snow plans to remain in El Paso, where he's board chairman of the El Paso Community College Foundation, Hassell said. He's also on the board of the International Folk Art Alliance in Santa Fe, where he and his wife also have a home.

Hernandez said in a statement that his mission will be to grow the bank's business in the El Paso region and "demonstrate our commitment to this market."

Chase has 11 branches in El Paso County with about 135 employees, Hassell said. It has about 130,000 consumer banking customers in El Paso and more than 8,000 business customers, he said.